Dreams about losing my teeth
Freud said that there are four typical sets of dreams: There are those of falling, those of flying, those of being embarrassed about being naked in public, and those of teeth falling out. These are all dreams I have had multiple times throughout my life. When I was younger, the dream of falling was most prevalent. I never had dreams of being naked, but as I ended my time in primary school and moved up to secondary school, I most commonly had dreams that I had gone somewhere and forgotten something vital, like my trousers or my shoes. Those dreams were usually quite stressful. Dreams of flying became more prominent in the latter stages of my life (they were highly enjoyable), and most recently, in the past two years or so, I have been having dreams about my teeth.
I had one last week. I was looking at my teeth in a mirror and spotted a defect. Upon further investigation I discovered that the tooth was wobbly, and it became more and more wobbly until the point when it actually fell out, closely followed by the rest of my teeth. All my dreams about teeth are similar to this one. They are not particularly enjoyable dreams.
What a dream about losing teeth means is open to interpretation. Some relate it to stress regarding children, some say it is to do with losing power or a position, others say it is about one’s appearance, while Freud (although I haven’t read enough of Freud myself to really say much here) said the dreams were to do with guilt about masturbating. I don’t feel guilty about masturbation, so I’d like to discredit that one in my case. I have no children, or even any relatives who have/are children, so that one goes out the window. I don’t think the dreams are about my appearance, because when I lose my teeth, I’m concerned about my actual teeth and not how they affect to the rest of me.
My dreams about losing my teeth must relate to some anxiety, and in my case I think they relate to anxiety about my actual teeth, and not to something else indirectly. I haven’t been to a dentist for more than five years, and I’m terrified that when I do go to the dentist I will have all sorts of things wrong with me. There’s also a mark on my front tooth that bothers me sometimes. I’m unsure if my dreams about teeth have another meaning; they may do, but I would relate the feeling in my dreams more to general stress than anything deeper.
I’m actually going to the dentists this month. We’ll see if this plays into my subconscious at night at all.